Monthly Archives: May 2010

My assignment at the Ottawa Marathon event was head of cheering for my wife and friends. I used to shoot more sports events as part of my work. Times have changed and many people offer photo work for free or almost free – prices plummetted and I now do other photo work (as well as jobs like head cheerleader for my wife). Times change – you’ve gotta keep moving.

While cheering for my wife, I shot parts of the marathon and half marathon on Sunday.

I will be picking up a new set of cards from Artopix on Thursday – it’s a part of the business that is growing at Harry, Inc.

I was at Artopix before Christmas and Claude introduced me to some new products – including the cards. I did a test run early this year and have just ordered a second batch. Cards will be available soon at some outlets in Ottawa/Gatineau. You can contact us directly, too for pricing.

Claude used to run a traditional lab – I would bring much of my E6 film processing to Centre de la Diapo – a partner business to Artopix. But, of course the photo world has changed drastically in the last ten years with the introduction of the web and digital cameras. Many working photographers (me included) were forced to change business models and workflows.

And I saw Claude’s business transform, too. He had to. He now provides many new products for business promotion and the public.

Artopix supports this site – we have four supporters – and helps keep the blog and newsletters coming regularly – please support them!

“Different than many courses out there! Using the camera to explore the ‘innerscape’ is very useful. A good way to grow inside… if you allow that growth to happen!”

“The opportunity to use my photography to try to tell a story about an issue I’m grappling with – it helped open up some new insights for me… Lee creates a very supportive environment for this exploration.”

“Very helpful – a way to find various ways to look at the work around me can only improve creativity. I am very glad I took it.”

A week ago we were lucky enough to have Lee Kraemer visit Ottawa to deliver her Innerscapes photogrpahy course. This workshop is a popular session for Lee but the first time she has brought it to Ottawa.

I enrolled on the course as a participant and was challenged to look at what makes me tick as a photographer. The session encourages people to delve inside and look at the creative process differently.

It was a challenging course over the weekend with different outcomes for different people – we:

• “Thank you for a great course. I really enjoyed the time with David and learned a lot! He is a very colorful and inspiring personality.”

• “He is an awesome story teller and his pictures were inspiring. His perspective is so different and it served to remind me that the reason behind wanting to pursue this is to enjoy and build on something that I love.”

• “The course was great. Dave just further proved that there are no rules to photography. I was very intrigued by his shooting technique.

Everything I have ever read said avoid the ‘hail mary’ shot. Use the view finder and be very careful framing your image. Dave seems to have shot blind so much that he a great sense of the picture he will capture knowing the angles of his camera.

He had me laughing all weekend. Too many great stories. It was well worth the time and I am glad I took it.”

“I am happy to report that I remember what you taught me and that I am using it on a daily basis. I find that my photos are getting better and I rarely have to fix them in Photoshop. I put more thought into it and it seems to be paying off.”

Thanks Valerie! See her photos below.

She also sent a couple of her favourite photo websites – related to DOGS!:

That’s what I asked. And today we have a guest blogger – I asked Master Corporal Cribb some questions…

Sit back and soak up stories from Combat Camera:

Harry Nowell: “What is Combat Camera?”

Master Corporal David Cribb: Combat Camera is a Canadian Forces Unit attatched to the Assistant Deputy Minister of Public Affairs (ADM PA) for the Department of National Defence. It employs 5 Public Affairs Officers, 13 imagery technicians (photographers and videographers), and 3 civillian editors (1 still 2 video). Our mandate is to inform the Canadian Public of Canadian Forces operations around the world and at home.

HN: “What is your role?”

MCDC: “Typically (but not always) we cover events to which media cannot easily access; examples being foot patrols in Afghanistan, or a soveriegnty patrol with the Canadian Rangers in the high arctic.”

HN: “How long have you been photographing?”

MCDC:“I have been an airforce photographer for 7 years and with Combat Camera for the last 2.”

HN: “Your most challenging assignment?”

MCDC: “My most challenging assignment was probably covering the Nijmeggen Marches in the Netherlands in 2009. It was a deluge of rain for 4 solid days. We were averageing 22 hours a day and by day 4 we were almost hip deep in mud, trying to keep our gear dry, and scrounging to find somewhere dry with power for our post production work. It was a definite challenge.”

MCDC: “What interested me in the course was the opportunity to work with someone like Mr Trattles who has such a wealth of story telling experience, and a wider focus of subject than we currently shoot. I’m hoping to get a broader perspective from this workshop, which in turn will translate to better stortelling for my imagery.”